Senators 4, Panthers 3

Associated Press

SUNRISE, Fla. -Nick Foligno's pass hit a Florida player's skate and ricocheted into the net in the second period and Jarkko Ruutu scored 38 seconds later to help the Ottawa Senators beat the Panthers 4-3 on Wednesday night.

Mike Fisher and Daniel Alfredsson also scored, and defenceman Filip Kuba added two assists in his return to the Ottawa lineup after missing the previous eight games because of a lower-body injury.

Steve Reinprecht, Stephen Weiss and Bryan McCabe scored for Florida, which has lost four straight to drop to 2-7-1. Jordan Leopold and Nathan Horton each had two assists.

Pascal Leclaire stopped nine shots for the Senators (6-2-2), but left after the first period due to illness. Brian Elliott finished the game, making 26 saves.

"Part way through the period during one of the TV timeouts, (Leclaire) came over and said he was starting to feel dizzy," Ottawa coach Cory Clouston said. "He felt he would be good until the end of the period. He's a gamer, he tried to stay in but by the end of the period, it kept getting progressively worse."

Florida had seven power plays, while Ottawa had only two.

"We didn't play great today but penalty-killing and goaltending made the difference for us," Alfredsson said.

McCabe scored on the power play at 3:51 in the third period to pull Florida within a goal. He beat Elliott with a slap shot from just inside the point, making it 4-3.

Foligno's pass hit McCabe's skate and deflected into the net to give the Senators a 3-2 lead with 2:47 left in the period. Ruutu then made it 4-2.

Florida took a 2-1 lead at 1:47 in the second when Weiss tipped the puck in for his third goal of the season. But Alfredsson tied it at 2-2 at 6:24 in the second when he put the puck through Tomas Vokoun's pads.

The Panthers opened the scoring at 4:44 of the first period when Leopold pushed the puck toward the crease and Reinprecht redirected it into the net. Ottawa evened the score on Fisher's power-play goal with 9:10 left in the opening period.

Florida was coming a 5-1 loss to Philadelphia on Saturday night, a game that also cost the team Radek Dvorak and star left wing David Booth. Booth, who left on a stretcher, sustained a concussion when he was hit by Philadelphia center Mike Richards. Dvorak injured his left knee.

NOTES: Panthers rookie D Dmitry Kulikov played in his 10th game of the season Wednesday, meaning he is officially in the first year of his entry-level NHL contract. Kulikov turns 19 on Thursday ... The Panthers took three of four games against the Senators last season, but Ottawa has won 12 of its last 15 games in Florida ... Ottawa concludes its brief Florida road trip on Thursday, facing off against the Lightning in Tampa (7 p.m., TSN, Team 1200). Then the Senators return home for a matchup with the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday at Scotiabank Place (2 p.m., CBC, Team 1200).